Advice on how to advance career
Advice on how to advance career
(OP)
I am looking for some advice on the advancement of my career. I am looking to get out of mainly technical work, and get into management and project management. What is the best way to go about doing this? What advice do people who have gone thru this transition have?





RE: Advice on how to advance career
Back this up with some formal training -- and there is plenty of this through various avenues, and you should be able to achieve your goals.
RE: Advice on how to advance career
If you want a less dramatic alternative, demonstrate your ability to delegate work to others (and ensure that the work gets done).
Being "too good" technically is actually a disadvantage when it comes to advancement (into management).
RE: Advice on how to advance career
RE: Advice on how to advance career
Seriously, If you want to go this route, PLEASE get training and if possible, some form of certification. I would suggest a MBA. There is a serious need for changes in qualifications of 'managers'.
RE: Advice on how to advance career
TygerDawg
Blue Technik LLC
Advanced Robotics & Automation Engineering
www.bluetechnik.com
RE: Advice on how to advance career
RE: Advice on how to advance career
As for getting into management, that's usually not much of an issue; it's simply a matter volunteering for duty. We usually have more product team lead positions than bodies to fill them, since most engineers don't want to be bothered with grundging the managerial aspects of a job.
TTFN
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RE: Advice on how to advance career
RE: Advice on how to advance career
TTFN
FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies
RE: Advice on how to advance career
To become a manager have a lobotomy and/or sell your soul to the Devil/turn to the dark side.
Not all managers do this but an awful lot seem to.
KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...
RE: Advice on how to advance career
Its been too long since being loyal to one employer actually hurts your career advancement. Though there are exceptions, many young executives in their early thirties got there by switching firms. Sad, but it is reality.
RE: Advice on how to advance career
Delegation is ideally part of teamwork. That's why a football team has 11 players. A quarterback to start things off, but receivers and backs to delegate ball carrying to, and blockers to protect the quarterback and ball carrier.
Additionally, there's the matter of training new employees. How are they going to learn anything if you do all the work?
TTFN
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RE: Advice on how to advance career
This may seem trivial, but make sure that somebody else can do the same quality of work that you can do. Maybe help bring up to speed a little bit of a junior member in the group.
I once got denined several promotions across about a year, because they flat out asked me:
"If you weren't there, who would get the work done?"
I unfortunately did not understand the question and told them the truth:
"Nobody inhouse currently could do my job."
Cost me a lot of money and a shot at management at the time.
To get promoted I had to change companies to somebody looking for a mid level manager with hands on experience.
Zuccus
RE: Advice on how to advance career
1.) Never ask an employee to do something that you're not willing to do yourself.
2.) Treat your employees like people, not as direct reports.
3.) Your team will follow your lead. You will usually see in their behavior some reflection of your own. If you display integrity, honesty, and trust in your employees, they will often repay you in kind. If you treat them with distrust, belittle them, and intentionally make their work lives miserable, don't be surprised if they drag their feet in completing their work.
4.) NEVER schedule meetings during lunch unless directly ordered by your boss to do so.
5.) Reward good behavior. How you do it is up to you.
6.) Do not share personal information that is communicated to you in confidence, unless there is a clear and present threat to someone's wellbeing.
7.) Don't worry about the plane that you just missed, the meeting that didn't go as planned, or the co-worker that you can't see eye to eye with at the moment. There's always another plane, you can learn from the outcome of the meeting, and you and your co-worker will likely come to a mutual understanding eventually. Patience is the key.
Maui
RE: Advice on how to advance career
Too many companies learn the hard way the result of this condition. If someone is expressing an honest desire for promotion and is doing what it takes to get it, it stands to reason that they achieve their goal one way or another.
Instead companies like to play ostrich and pretend that their people wont leave. I believe that the company I am at now is doing just that with several individuals.
RE: Advice on how to advance career
Your inputs are thought provoking and have hit the nail on it's head !!!...but there is something else which I believe has not been said explicitly in this thread and that is:
a) being tactful
b) getting help at the appropriate time from a "godfather
fgiure" who is sitting somewhere at the "top of the
pile" in the company
With these two things, most of what you have written may be achievable for a Manager.